ANU university lecturer who skinny dipped and kissed a female student was ‘fairly’ dismissed

A university lecturer who was sacked after swimming naked at a beach and consensually kissing a female student has been ruled as ‘fair,’ an appeal body has found.

The associate professor, who worked for the Australian National University (ANU), was terminated from his position following the incident.

An initial appeal to the Fair Work Commission found there was no valid reason the man had been dismissed from his job as the act had not violated university policy, The Canberra Times reported.

The decision was eventually overturned following an appeal by the university, with the commission ruling the man had indeed violated policy.

The incident occurred on November 21, 2017, at a retreat the lecturer had organised for students to visit ANU’s Kiolia campus on the NSW south coast.

One night during the trip, the lecturer walked to a nearby beach to observe bioluminescence in the water with a female student.

The Fair Work Commission heard the student had been enrolled in a course at the university the man had taught since June 2017.

The professor then stripped off his clothes and walked into the water, with the student stripping down to her underwear and following him shortly afterwards, the submission read.

The commission recounted in its earlier ruling that the female student, without being asked or encouraged, wrapped her legs around the man and kissed him.

After the incident, the lecturer told the female student that the intimate act between them was ‘not a good idea’ and his relationship with his wife was more important to him.

The student asked the lecturer not to tell anyone about the act, but he did reveal the details to his wife later on. 

The hearing heard that the student was ‘keen’ on pursuing a relationship with the lecturer and tried to meet with him multiple times.

She called his home phone a month later, where the lecturer told her to speak with his wife. 

The student allegedly told the man’s wife that she had a ‘special connection’ with him.

The lecturer’s wife told him not to meet with the student as it was ‘only going to make things worse for her’ as he did not return the feelings she had for him.

He later met the student in January 2018 and recommended they cease further contact.

The woman eventually finished her course at the university and filed a complaint against the lecturer in late 2019.

One night while on retreat, the lecturer walked to a beach near ANU’s Kiolia campus (pictured). He stripped naked and walked into the ocean. A female student followed him into the water and proceeded to kiss the man

ANU suspended the lecturer in November 2019 and informed him two months later that he’d be dismissed.

An appeal was lodged with the Fair Work Commission, who initially ruled against the dismissal, claiming the relationship with the student was consensual and did not violate university policy.

The deputy president said the man’s conduct ‘demonstrated poor judgement’ but said there was ‘no prohibition on ANU staff engaging in a consensual relationship with a student’.

The deputy president stated it was ‘not a valid reason for dismissal’.

Following an appeal by the university, the commission overturned its decision and has since ruled the dismissal as ‘fair’ on the basis that university rules had been broken.

In its ruling, the commission said the associate professor’s duty was to ‘engage in the education of students and to organise the retreat’.

‘It was plainly incompatible with this duty to take a young female student down to the beach alone almost immediately after the end of a lecture, to strip naked in front of her and then to engage in sexual intimacy with her’.

The panel said the man ‘did not conduct himself with care and diligence’ and that the ‘effect and consequence of (his) conduct was to establish a non-professional, personal relationship with the student’.

The panel added that he had failed to disclose the incident to the university.